Car's died - first breakdown for years!

[mikeloadsasaabs]

Just drove off to visit the doc's about my bad back (car induced - see my recent post about stones behind the brake disc!). I got perhaps 300 metres down the road, slowed down for a school, accelerated slightly, it shuddered badly but then picked up. In another hundred yards or so, it just died and I managed luckily to coast into the car park of the village shop. Starter turns fine, just won't fire. There was no engine management light on before it happened. I'm thinking either a blocked fuel line or dead fuel pump. I've called the breakdown people and their on their way - luckily I was near enough home to come and wait in the warm until they are on their way!

Funnily enough, yesterday afternoon & evening I thought I detected a slight hesitation, but it carried on as normal. It was slight that I wasn't quite sure. I wasn't expecting it to totally die on me. 

This car has NEVER broken down on us before, and I can't remember the last time I did have a breakdown.

Anyone any other thoughts?

[nine-fiver]

DI.

Fuel cutout then kicks in. No fuel pump. No fire.

Pop the bonnet and check for a smell near the wiring that goes into the DI on the RHS of the engine as you look at it.

Exactly same thing happened to me on my Aero a few years back. 30min fix on the side of the road with a new one. Drove off...no towing.

[sgould]

The are only about three quick checks you can do for yourself.

1.  Smell the ignition cassette, as stated above.

2.  Check the resistance of the crankshaft position sensor. Should be between 770 & 950 ohms.

3.  Listen to hear the fuel pump run.  it only runs for a second or two when the ignition is turned on.  Then goes off until the engine starts and fuel pressure drops.

[mikeloadsasaabs]

DI.

You're today's winner nine-fiver, it was indeed the DI!

Just got back home. The mechanic that came from the motoring club seemed very competent. He very quickly decided it might be the DI, but removed it & smelt it and thought it was OK. Tried a couple of other sensible things, including checking for fault codes. Luckily, despite our move to Austria and all the upheaval it involved, I kept a spare DI cartridge at home - not new, it's about 4 years old. So he gave me a lift home to collect it, connected it up and instant life! Quite a relief as I need to leave home at 8:15 tomorrow morning for a 120 mile round trip to Linz airport.

So, since I'm now running a four-year old DI in the car, my mission today will be to buy a new replacement and keep this one as a spare again.

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone. I did suggest the CPS to him (no idea what the German is for that but he understood!). Perhaps I should get a spare one of those just in case, that's 10 years old!

[chris aka zaphod]

Get a genuine DI, of course, not a chinese copy that is doing the rounds.

[mikeloadsasaabs]

Absolutely. I have found one from Buckingham Stanley at £199.95 on Ebay, with postage it will be £225. The only one I can find here in Austria is €400 plus postage (from Germany).   

Anyone any ideas where to get a genuine DI at a better price?

[Audax]

That is a very good price for a genuine DI. I doubt that it's worth trying to shave a few more pennies off the price.

[mikeloadsasaabs]

I didn't, Audax! Having phoned another dealer and found they wanted £265 plus the dreaded VAT, I decided that it was probably a bargain, so I've already bought it and it's been shipped. I will swop them over when it arrives and keep the old one as an emergency spare. This is the first time I've had a DI fail in 11 years of owning 9-5s, so perhaps I've been lucky - at least it didn't happen in the fast lane of the autobahn!!

[jmblack]

Our 2.3t 95 is just over 6 years and 92k old. Should I be carrying a spare di at that age and mileage? Not keen to spend £200 but if its a real risk?

[mikeloadsasaabs]

Mine was around five years old, and new when I fitted it. There were known problems with earlier DIs but mine was from the batch after they were fixed. I'd be tempted in your case to buy an emergency spare, perhaps a working used one, just in case. The problem is, you never know! I had no inkling of a problem until yesterday evening, then it died this morning  .

[TomPaine]

Our 2.3t 95 is just over 6 years and 92k old. Should I be carrying a spare di at that age and mileage? Not keen to spend £200 but if its a real risk?

I'm risk averse but I would. The DI went on my first 9-5 at 7 years and 82k and my second at 7 years and 52k. No one wants to spend money unnecessarily but it won't go to waste!

Once when I was going to France on holiday, just after a service, my local dealer kindly stuck a BNIB one in the boot on loan for the duration just in case.

As Mike says Cambridge Saab / Buckingham Stanley eBay site is and has long been the cheapest bona fide place for DIs.

[sgould]

I've carried a DI in the boot since about 2002.  Unfortunately it must be 10 years old now.  Still in original box.  Hope it works if I need it.....

[Audax]

Carry a good second hand (make sure you test it!) spare DI. Getting hold of them has been patchy in the past. Newer replacement DI's seem to be more reliable than the earlier ones (pre 05) so if it has been replaced it might not be so essential but it's one of the few roadside replaceable parts that commonly fails on a 9-5 which will leave you stranded. The other 2 things that fail and stop the car are generally either the CPS or the fuel pump (on petrol models at least), both of which are slightly more involved to remove at the roadside and cases for having the car towed to a garage.

[jmblack]

Time to go shopping!

[GeoffW]

When the spare DI arrives, fit it to the car and check it's working. If all is well, leave it fitted and use the one you took off as the spare (assuming it was a working one you took off!). After all, you know it works.

I've got mine wrapped in bubble-wrap sitting the right way up and wedged alongside my spare wheel under the floor of the boot. You need to loosen off the wheel retaining setup and slide the wheel over as far as you can get it in the well so the boot floor will sit down flat but it ensures the DI will have all its oil filling in the right places if you ever need to use it.